Gilgamesh's consciousness entered his sea of energy where, upon arriving, he was immediately stumped by the sight.
The quill and sheet of paper, which was essentially the spiritual body of the Omniscient Author, had descended into Gilgamesh's lake of true energy.
It appeared as though it was taking a nice bath, and Gilgamesh could have sworn he saw a delighted expression on the blank sheet of paper, and an exhalation of mist rising from the quill.
This was clearly the spitting image of someone soaking in a hot spring and indulging in the most relaxing experience of their life!
Gilgamesh's face twitched as he perused his sea of energy with his divine sense.
He noticed that the other four images hovering in the air had been pushed further and further away. The Old Power, Obscure Spark, Endless Cycle and Truth's Mind were all forced to a distant corner of the desert world.
The only things occupying the space near Gilgamesh's lake of energy were Samael and the Omniscient Author, which was bathing.
Gilgamesh knew from the Omniscient Author's fluctuations that it was already active once again, and a sense of burning excitement caused his heart to race.
He opened his eyes as his consciousness returned, and prepared to perform a test.
"Let's see here..."
He thought of a subject, and activated his true energy. At the same time, within his lake of energy, the Omniscient Author stirred as though it were waking up.
Then, upon its activation, the images of thousands of quills and pages materialized in the lake, and they all started writing.
Gilgamesh had pondered the topic of natures, and received an even more detailed answer than what he had gotten from the Encyclopedia.
'True energy is more than just the foundation for cultivation, it is the prerequisite for acquiring natures. The energy of heaven and earth is everywhere, and can be attuned to someone in order to become that person's true energy.'
'Once you possess true energy, you can acquire a true energy nature and make it a part of your own power.'
'However, without true energy, a person's inherent nature still exists and can be developed. Inherent natures are not natures of true energy, but natures of the soul.'
Understanding this, Gilgamesh thought back to the only confirmed inherent nature he had seen so far: Big Brother Feral's nature of bluntness.
Then, Gilgamesh thought about his own situation, and the feeling of his mind and body splitting. His mind was also filled with recollections of Wyg's story, and the way he described his own feeling of compulsion.
Once he received his answer, the total true energy in Gilgamesh's body fell sharply. He had started out with just over 20,000 cycles worth, but now had enough for a little less than 10,000 cycles.
He sucked in a breath of cold air when he realized this.
'As of right now, I can only use the Omniscient Author twice before running out of energy. But...'
Gilgamesh immediately began gathering energy to replenish his energy reserves, while also beginning to circulate true energy through his second meridian.
He decided to continue to push his meridian to the limit, which would essentially help him kill two birds with one stone.
He could progress in his super slow cultivation while also gaining more true energy-- and thus more uses of the Omniscient Author.
With a self-satisfied smirk, Gilgamesh licked his lips in anticipation.
As time passed, and the night sky remained unchanged, Gilgamesh made significant progress.
His total true energy had shot up to a whopping 65,000 cycles, and his body was now enhanced even further beyond the limit.
Unlike most other times though, Gilgamesh felt the nagging feeling of being observed.
Very closely observed.
As he looked around and even extended his pitiful divine sense though, he could sense no one in his immediate surroundings. This didn't really surprise him though.
He knew that if someone in this world wanted to, they could easily spy on him without him being able to spot them. If it weren't for his superior instincts that came from billions of years of experience, he would be completely clueless.
'This feeling is so peculiar... It's almost as if something is watching me from the inside...'
He started thinking this, and a thought slowly came to him.
"...from the... inside?"
His brows shot upward and he immediately put a stop of his cultivation. At the same time, his consciousness entered his sea of energy once more, and he saw the lake that had tripled in size.
Within it, the Omnisciemt Author had grown considerably. Now, the feather was so large that if he were to hold it in his hand it would look more like a sword.
As for the page, it was slightly bigger than a door, and still blank. However, the brightness of the paper seemed to be a little more exaggerated, and the quality of it seemed to have changed.
Gilgamesh stared directly at the quill and page, and his eyes slowly narrowed. In response, the Omniscient Author simply floated there in his true energy and continued with its bath.
Gilgamesh's eyes narrowed further, "Hmm..."
The Omniscient Author continued soaking.
Gilgamesh moved closer to the Omniscient Author, and gave it an appraising look.
The Omniscient Author continued soaking...
Gilgamesh frowned, and proceeded to sigh before extracting his consciousness.
The Omniscient Author continued soaking, but this time the quill released a sigh of relief as it spoke in an ethereal voice.
"Phew, that was a close one. I didn't think he'd be able to sense me spying on him. Luckily I managed to fool him with my flawless acting."
Then and there, Gilgamesh reappeared in his sea of energy.
"AHA!"
The Omniscient Author was petrified, and ended up panicking, "Uh- Ah- That was-"
Suddenly, it had a bright idea and immediately switched up its voice until it sounded lifeless and mechanical.
"This is a recorded message. This is a recorded message. Beep!"
Following that, it went silent.
The Omniscient Author continued soaking...
"Recorded message my ass! Speak before I kick you out of my sea of energy!" Gilgamesh raged.
Sensing that it had made a blunder, the Omniscient Author gave an exasperated sigh, "Fine, fine. Although I wouldn't mind being kicked out. Your sea of energy is pitiful. It's 99.99999% desert!"
"Tch!" Gilgamesh raised a fist, "So all this time you could speak!? I should kick your ass!"
The Omniscient Author took on a position as thought it were raising its hands in a half-assed attempt to pacify Gilgamesh.
"Whoa there, buddy. Calm down and let me explain, why don't you?"
Gilgamesh instantly dropped his facade of an enraged attitude and nodded, "Go on then. Explain everything."
The Omniscient Author: "..."
After a short pause, the Omniscient Author's quill dipped into Gilgamesh's true energy, using it as ink to start writing on the page.
"For starters, I only recently recovered enough to be able to observe things and speak again. I am most thankful to you for letting me bathe in such precious true energy."
Gilgamesh was intrigued by the Omniscient Author's use of "precious," and his expression shifted.
"With true energy of such a high caliber, you must have exceptional meridians. What grade of body do you possess? Sapling God-grade?"
Gilgamesh had no reaction.
"Ancient Fiendgod-grade perhaps?"
Gilgamesh could not answer.
"Y-you... you don't know?"
Gilgamesh shook his head, "Why don't you just find out?"
The Omniscient Author took a moment before it dipped its quill in the lake and continued writing.
Gilgamesh had no idea what it was writing; it didn't look like any language he knew. It consisted of various symbols and strokes that looked like nonsense to him.
Whenever the page was filled, the content would vanish and the Omniscient Author would start anew.
As it wrote, it also spoke.
"What I am about to explain to you encroaches upon the rules, thus I must be careful of how I say it. You may not understand."
Gilgamesh really didn't want to receive another cryptic message, and he massaged his temples out of pure annoyance, "Does it help that I'm fateless?"
Hearing this, the Omniscient Author faltered before the quill dipped and it hurried to write something else down.
Gilgamesh noticed this.
"Are you... recording information about me?"
The Omniscient Author instantly said, "No. Of course not. Why would I do that? Why would anyone do that?" It's voice cracked numerous times, and a bead of sweat surprisingly started to run down the page.
"So you are. Whatever. Just give me an answer."
The Omniscient Author gulped loudly, "Might I ask... how you know for certain that you are without fate?"
Gilgamesh nodded, while also pointing at something in a corner of his sea of energy.
When the Omniscient Author turned his attention to where Gilgamesh had pointed, he finally saw the dormant seeds of the Divine Ones' power.
"Ah," The Omnscient Author spoke disdainfully, "You had a run-in with the Pious..."
As though it were putting two and two together, the Omniscient Author slowly turned back to Gilgamesh and then furiously began writing again.
Gilgamesh looked on in impatience.
"Incredible. So not only is your body at least of some supreme grade, but your soul fluctuations are approximately 8 to 13 trillion years old and you are fateless due to an encounter with the servants of The Light."
Gilgamesh nodded, "That's right. Now are you going to tell me what you know?"
The Omniscient Author finally stopped writing and adopted a firm and resolute stance.
"As you are fateless, there is actually nothing you are not allowed to find out. Whether you know something or not does not affect either karma or destiny, since you can no longer influence- or be influenced by- such things."
"So, I can tell you everything I know."
Gilgamesh finally perked up.
"I am not just a wisp of the Omniscient Author or a fragment of that power. I am also not simply a true energy nature that you were lucky enough to acquire."
"I am the Nature of the Omniscient Author. In order words, I am the Omniscient Author himself, whose writings have crafted every fabric of existence."